The Musquanousse River (french: Rivière Musquanousse) is a salmon river in the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past Tadous ...

region of Quebec, Canada. It flows south and empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Location

The Musquanousse River is long from its source. It forms as a stream that drains Lake Musquanousse, which is long and wide. The river then traces an erratic path through many lakes, including Lake Marie-Claire, Lake Des Outardes and Lake Missu before flowing for about to the Gulf. In this section the river descends through falls and numerous rapids towards a broad T-shaped bay, which connects by a narrow neck with the Gulf. The mouth of the Musquanousse River is about east of the Musquaro River. It is in the municipality of

Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent is a municipality (Quebec), municipality in the regional county municipality of Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality, Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent in the Côte-Nord Quebec region, region of the ...

in Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality.

Name

In 1694 Louis Jolliet wrote of the Mascoüarou and smaller Mascoüarouchis rivers. The name means "little river of the black bear tail". The surveyor J. B. A. Gould gave the lake and river this name in 1899 in a survey report. The Musquanousse River is also known as the "Little Musquaro River".

Description

The ''Dictionnaire des rivières et lacs de la province de Québec'' (1914) says of the river,

Basin

The Musquanousse River basin covers . It lies between the basins of the Musquaro River to the west and the

Washicoutai River The Washicoutai River (french: Rivière Washicoutai) is a salmon river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It flows south and empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Location The Washicoutai River is long. The river narrows several tim ...

to the east. It is partly in the unorganized territory of Petit-Mécatina and partly in the municipality of Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent. A map of the ecological regions of Quebec shows the Musquanousse River in sub-regions 6o-T, 6n-T and 6m-T of the east spruce/moss subdomain. Wildlife in this mountainous landscape include

Moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

and

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

. The river is also frequented by bustards and ducks.

Fishing

The Musquanousse, including lakes Marie-Claire, Missu, Musquanousse and Des Outardes, is recognized as an

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...

river. Between 2013 and 2017 an average of 24 salmon were reported caught each year. The six lakes that the river flows through increase its effective length for fish from . All the lakes are accessible to salmon to varying degrees, and some reach Lake Musquanousse at the head of the river. The stream is home to

and

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

, including

anadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...

and landlocked specimens of both species. The Pourvoirie Musquanousse provides outfitter services. It holds exclusive rights over the entire river and chain of lakes, as well as the estuary. There are nine pools for fishing salmon by wading or from boats.

Notes

Sources

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